Rants on Cycling and on Life:
Photos of people and bicycles that pass in front of my camera

9.28.2008

some people and a dog at NCVC's cyclocross race at Lily Pons

Some People and a few dogs at NCVC's cyclocross race at Lily PonsI have some pictures and some words about some of the people but only photos of one of the dogs

I am pretty much spentit was time well spentI am pretty much spent

this afternoon I left out Lily Pons feeling pretty good about the daynot so much that I performed so well or that I out performed my expectationsmore that I got out there

had not been feeling all that inspired about the bikelegs have been feeling a little tiredthe discipline about the bike has been a little lazylots of days off and not so many days onbeen spending more time taking photos of bikes than actually bikingtime taking photos of cyclocross is time not practicing cyclocrosseven if that time is at cyclocross practice

this morning I left out the house a few minutes latethere was some anxiety that I had forgotten somethingthere was the requisite anxiety that I was not preparedthe anxiety was not grand because some of me was not so sure that I caredpost mountain bike season bicycle malaise

bicycle riding and bicycle racing malaise

it was a rainy wet day and I was feeling less than inspiredbut it was not so much the day that had me uninspireduninspired is how I have felt about the bike lately

It was late but not so late when I arrivedarrived and got my number with a little time to to spare for some warm upup and out the main road and my legs were feeling flatmy nose was all stuffed up and I could hardly breathethe nose was no issue... it is often blocked or cloggedit was more that the flatness of my legs was infecting my head

I pulled over and got off my bikeas I took a piss off is the brush just to the side of the road I relaxedbefore I let things get to me I took a deep breathnot a nasal yoga breath because my nose was cloggedbut a big open mouth fill the lungs breath

oxygen to my lungs and oxygen to my brainI exhaled and thought... it is all better when on the biketo which I had to fight back the argument in my head that I was just on the bike and well... it did not feel betterI reminded myself... it is all better on the bike

I was stoked to be there and I was stoked to see so many friendsI was excited to be racing

it is tough...I was ready for the DFLwhile always trying to avoid the DNFthe DNS needs to have a valid excuse and wet the day of a cross races is not a valid excuse for a DNSthere was talk with some friendsmany of us were ready for the fight for DFLbut we were all ready for the fight to give it our all as well

I lined up aware that I had not pre-ridden the course and I had not actually warmed upyet I knew I would be ready when the race startedthen without an actual count down the race startedI was not entirely ready

the race had started and we were moving up the paved road to the prologue section that feeds into the courseit was tight and people were fighting forwardI was aware that things would thin out and I did not want to be pushed back as things thinned outso I worked to move forwardtried to be respectful of other rider's effortstried not to go so hard that I had to stop after 100 yardstried to ride smarttried to ride within my limits... wanted to race but not blow up on the first lap

I keyed in on my DCMTB team mates Raul and Markit would be their pace that would be my paceMark has been looking strong this year and I knew it would be work to hang with himit seemed like a task that would make for a solid effort and a decent gaugeRaul was more of a dark horsewith Raul I knew he was strongbut I was not sure of his capabilities as this is his first season of cyclocross

the course was a wonderful mix of slick and slippery challengesit was not a Portland mud bog of absurdityit was a ride-able race-able course that was wet and tricky at some pointsa good bit of the course is made of hard packed gravel while other parts are jeep roadssome of the grass sections got more mucked up than othersthere were sections of flat that I took on footit was cyclocross racing

the course change through the raceparts that were messed up got more messed upa messed up that would be a different course by the time the fast Elite Men hit the course after everyone else was packed up and on their way home

it was a battlea battle of the spiritcyclocross often goes that wayI know I had a good race if I wanted to quit and if I nearly threw up after the raceokay... that formula works for bad races as wellI guess that is just cyclocross racing

the first lap was the most sketchyit was funny... there were people more all over the course than mewhat is funny is that some of these people beat methe bike and body held up wellthere was some sliding about the coursebut no rear near crashesand definitely no crashingperhaps I would have done well to test my limits and risk the crashbut it is hard to justify fighting to change a space or a spot in the pack

I have not seen the resultsnot even sure of the numbers at the linereally only noticed the race within my racethe race where Raul finished first, I finished second, and Drajem finished third

this was not supposed to be my Race Report from the 2008 NCVC Ed Sanders Memorial Cyclocross event at Lily Ponswe will see if more words surfaceif more images surface I should throw up more words

after seeing the results I can see that I was not as close to Raul's rear wheel as I thought I was

great race Raul!

that is a good reason not to keep track of the finishing times

okay... I love the timesthe splits would be fun tooabsurd to ask forbut fun to think about

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